Mark Mulligan

Mark Mulligan is a music analyst and the founder at MIDiA Research. He is a long-term tech analyst and a leading digital thinker with more than 20 years of experience, working with leading global music, entertainment, and tech companies. At MIDiA, Mark focuses on the streaming and creator economies, as well as music business trends and market metrics such as forecasts and market shares.

Free Report: Lyrics Take Centre Stage In Streaming Music

Mark Mulligan

16 Jan 2018

lyricfind lyrics midia

We are pleased to announce the publication of a brand new, totally free, Streaming Music report. In this report, we present the findings of an exclusive consumer survey fielded in November 2017 to consumers in the US, UK and Germany, deep diving into streaming behaviours and the growing role that ly...

Cover image for Free Report: Lyrics Take Centre Stage In Streaming Music

We're Hiring!

Mark Mulligan

10 Jan 2018

2017 was a big year for MIDiA, during which we expanded our team, coverage and revenues. We also added many fantastic new companies as clientsandlaunched our suite of cloud data tools: Fuse. But we have even bigger plans for 2018.

Joining the Dots: How Wixen’s Suit Impacts Spotify’s DPO

Mark Mulligan

4 Jan 2018

Spotify dpo spotify IPO Spotify law suit

While many are still recovering from their festive exertions, Spotify hits the news twice –though for two very different reasons: the long-awaited confirmation of its DPO date and, less expected, a new lawsuit from a music publisher .

Cover image for Awakening

Awakening
The Music Industry in the Digital Age

Mark Mulligan

1 Jan 2018

music industry digital age

In June 1999 a software programme developed by a college dropout changed the music industry forever. It triggered a transformation that threw decades’ worth of accepted wisdom out of the window and sent the recorded music industry into what at times appeared to be a death spiral.

Cover image for Streaming Peaks

Streaming Peaks
What Playlist And Binge-Watching Trends Signify For Streaming

Mark Mulligan

21 Dec 2017

Streaming Streaming Music YouTube

Streaming is transforming music and video consumption, creating new business models and behaviours. 2017 was a strong year for both sectors but growth is not uniformly distributed. Video subscriptions are set to see much wider adoption than music subscriptions and across both sectors, leading behaviours are slowing.

Cover image for MIDiA Research Music Market Metrics

MIDiA Research Music Market Metrics

Mark Mulligan

20 Dec 2017

Streaming streaming market shares Music Metrics

In the Excel spreadsheet published here we have brought together all of MIDiA’s main music datasets into one place for convenient access and reference. The document includes more than 20 country pages, with multiple datasets and charts. Datasets included:...

MIDiA Research Predictions 2018: Post-Peak Economics

Mark Mulligan

18 Dec 2017

2018 predictions Amazon Apple

With 2017 drawing to a close and 2018 on the horizon, it is time for MIDiA’s 2018 predictions. But first, on how we did last year,our 2017 predictions had a 94% success rate. See bottom of this post for a run down.

Disney, Netflix and the Squeezed Middle: The Real Story Behind Net Neutrality

Mark Mulligan

15 Dec 2017

Amazon Apple Music Disney

Unless you have been hiding under a rock this last couple of weeks you’ll have heard at least something about the build up to the decision over turning net neutrality in the US, a decision that was confirmed yesterday.

Cover image for Disney, Netflix and the Squeezed Middle: The Real Story Behind Net Neutrality

Shazam Is Apple’s Echo Nest

Mark Mulligan

11 Dec 2017

Apple Apple Music echo nest

Shazam finally found a buyer: Apple. Ever since its affiliate sales revenue model crumbled with the onset of streaming (there’s no business in an affiliate fee on a $0.01 stream), Shazam has been trying to find a new business model.

Cover image for Quarterly Digital Content Trends: Q3 2017

Quarterly Digital Content Trends: Q3 2017

Mark Mulligan

11 Dec 2017

Streaming Streaming Music US

In this report, we present highlights of content trends from MIDiA’s Quarterly Brand Tracker. The survey is fielded in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. This report explores how consumer behaviour evolved between Q4 2016 and Q3 2017 across music, video, games and social.

Cover image for MIDiA Research Predictions 2018

MIDiA Research Predictions 2018
Post-Peak Economics

Karol Severin, Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan and Zach Fuller

4 Dec 2017

Apple Spotify Amazon

In this report MIDiA Research analysts present their predictions for what will be the big trends in digital media and tech across music, video, media in 2018. Companies and brands mentioned in this report: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Apple Music, Candy Crush...

Spotify, Tencent And The Laws Of Unintended Consequences

Mark Mulligan

1 Dec 2017

Media and Marketing Critical Developments

News has emerged that Spotify and TencentMusic could be swapping 10%equity in each other’s companies ahead of Spotify’s public listing. There are some obvious implications for both enterprises, as well as some less immediately obvious, but even more interesting permutations: Spotify gets a footh...

Majors Get The Tracks But Not The Longevity On Today’s Top Hits

Mark Mulligan

27 Nov 2017

indies label share majors

A post by Chartmetric’s Sung Cho diving into Spotify playlist metrics caught my attention, and one aspect in particular: how the major labels dominate the flagship Spotify playlist Today’s Top Hits.

Cover image for Majors Get The Tracks But Not The Longevity On Today’s Top Hits

Cover image for Radio Is Streaming’s Next Frontier

Radio Is Streaming’s Next Frontier
How Streaming Will Disrupt Radio Like It Did Retail

Mark Mulligan

21 Nov 2017

Streaming Streaming Music Apple

Streaming’s first achievement was becoming a long-term successor to retail, now it has its sights set on doing the same to radio. Even though the revenue per user is much smaller, the addressable market is far higher. Streaming’s post-radio strategy has the potential to be much more far reaching and impactful than subscriptions have been in ter...

This Is What Post-IPO Life Will Look Like For Spotify

Mark Mulligan

17 Nov 2017

IPO Netflix Netflix share price

With a fair wind, Spotify’s long-anticipated public offering should happen before the end of Q2 2018 (and yes, probably a direct listing rather than an IPO but 'IPO' worked better in the title!) . The music industry will be watching with keen interest as it is going to be the bellwether for the st...

Cover image for This Is What Post-IPO Life Will Look Like For Spotify

Is Hip Hop Keeping Female Artists Out Of The Charts?

Mark Mulligan

12 Nov 2017

charts female artists females in streaming

There is a gender divide in the upper echelons of popular music. In the US, Taylor Swift is the first woman to top the Hot 100 in 2017, with hits by women accounting for just 14% of all top 10 hits throughout the course of the year.

Cover image for Is Hip Hop Keeping Female Artists Out Of The Charts?

Musical.ly Sells For $800 Million But Peaked By Being Too Silicon Valley

Mark Mulligan

10 Nov 2017

Music

News has just emerged that lip synching app Musical.ly is to be sold for between $800 million and $1 billion to Chinese companyJinri Toutiao, which also bought Musical.ly predecessor Flipagram. I’ve long held the belief that Musical.

Pandora’s Loss Is Sirius XM’s Gain

Mark Mulligan

9 Nov 2017

Apple Music interactive radio liberty acquisition

Pandora is in trouble, as explained by the consistently excellent Tim Ingham at Music Business Worldwide , after losing a billion dollars over the last four years and monthly active users (MAU) fell to 73.

Announcing MIDiA’s Streaming Services Market Shares Report

Mark Mulligan

3 Nov 2017

7Digital Amazon amazon music unlimited

As the streaming music market matures, the bar is continually raised for the quality of data required, both in terms of granularity and accuracy. At MIDiA we have worked hard to earn a reputation for high-quality, reliable datasets that go far beyond what is available elsewhere.

Cover image for Announcing MIDiA’s Streaming Services Market Shares Report

Cover image for State Of The Streaming Nation 2.1 (Mid-Year 2017 Update)

State Of The Streaming Nation 2.1 (Mid-Year 2017 Update)
The Definitive Assessment Of The Global Streaming Music Market

Mark Mulligan

30 Oct 2017

Subscriptions Streaming Streaming Music

2016 was the year that streaming turned the recorded music business into a good news story, with revenue growth so strong that it drove nearly a billion dollars of total growth. Leading streaming services spent the year competing with ever more impressive metric, while playlisting and streaming exclusives became cornerstones of the wider music mark...

© 2025 MIDiA Research Ltd. All Rights Reserved.